Ferndale Factor again

According to yesterday's Western Mail, the Ferndale Factor is back.

Labour bloggers

Good to meet fellow Welsh Labour blogger Cllr Nick Colbourne, from Ruabon, at the Army's briefing in Cardiff Bay on Tuesday evening.

Our Mining History

Old Ordnance survey maps of the Rhondda contain a lot of fascinating material. I have a number of the six-inch maps from around 1900 which clearly show the pits throughout the valley. Now there are calls to make the Ordnance Survey mark the site of former pits on maps of coalmining areas throughout Britain. It's a good and simple idea that should be supported.

Arriva MD leaves

Shock news yesterday that the MD of Arriva Trains in Wales, Graeme Bunker, has left his job, by 'mutual consent' according to the Echo. I have had cause to complain about Arriva regularly over the last six months, but on a personal basis I always found Mr Bunker straightforward, honest and cooperative. The news was given to a breakfast briefing at the Assembly attended by some of my colleagues, and the Echo was on the phone about it by 10.00.

I hope that the new MD will be present on Friday when the South Wales Central Regional Committee, which I have to chair for the next year, meets in Cwmaman to discuss commuter train services.

Regional Committees

I agreed with the Assembly Presiding Officer's comments on the Assembly in one area: Regional Committees are pretty pointless. However, we are stuck with them until May 2007 at least, and as one of the few Labour back-benchers in the South Wales Central region, I have become chair of the Committee for the next twelve months, since it's Labour's turn to chair it.

Instead of the normal pointless debates which merely replicate the National Assembly's plenary, I will be pushing the Committee to look at areas of policy that are meaningful for the region. The first of these is commuter train services in the region, and we will be meeting in the Cwmaman Institute from 10.00 - 12.30 this Friday 26th May with witnesses including Arriva Trains. The meeting is open to the public and you can put your own questions.

Trains

I have become chair of the South Wales Central Regional Committee for the next twelve months, since it's Labour's turn to chair it.

Instead of the normal pointless debates which merely replicate the National Assembly's plenary, I will be pushing the Committee to look at areas of policy that are meaningful for the region. The first of these is commuter train services in the region, and we will be meeting in the Cwmaman Institute from 10.00 - 12.30 this Friday 26th May with witnesses including Arriva Trains. The meeting is open to the public and you can put your own questions.

Field Archery not Field Sports!

Glyncornel will be the setting for the 2008 World Field Archery Championships and I am hopeful that the Welsh Assembly Government will lend some support to this. I had a question on this in the Assembly last week - the Conservatives got a bit carried away, thinking it was about hunting!

Q6 Leighton Andrews: What is the Minister doing to encourage field archery in Wales? OAQ0798(CWS)
Alun Pugh: Support for archery in Wales is provided though the Sports Council for Wales, in consultation with the governing bodies of the sport. In the case of field archery, this involves the Welsh Field Archery Association.
Leighton Andrews: As you are aware, the 2008 World Field Archery Championships are scheduled to be held in the Rhondda. The Pentref Bowmen have been in discussion with your department regarding support for this event. This will be a major opportunity to promote not only field archery, but the Rhondda, globally. I encourage you and your officials to support this event, as I am sure Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council will be doing.
Alun Pugh: We support the event coming to the Rhondda. In terms of direct financial assistance, that will have to be evaluated against our criteria for supporting major events. It is true to say that this will generate additional bed nights in areas such as the Rhondda, which is good to see. We will have a further meeting. I understand that Jean Howells, the chair of the organising committee, met my officials earlier this week. We would want to take this on and we would take a supportive approach to negotiations.
Alun Cairns: The Welsh Conservative Party is keen to support the World Field Archery Championships in the Rhondda, as we do all field sports, because they have an important part to play. Following the ban on hunting, will the Minister pledge his support for game shooting, which is another important field sport? Many of those participating in game shooting—
The Presiding Officer: Order. I do not think that your question is in order. I stand to be corrected by some of my hunting friends, but I do not believe that archery is used to shoot game in Wales any more.
Alun Cairns: With the greatest of respect, Presiding Officer, my question relates to field sports in general. I hope that the Minister would share my support of other field sports, such as shooting.
The Presiding Officer: Order. The question refers specifically to field archery. Therefore, I stand by my ruling. It is not about general field sports, unless any Member can urgently show me that bows and arrows are still used in the pursuit of field sports.
Alun Pugh: It is good to see the Conservatives supporting the principles of Robin Hood.

Dysgwyr

Lots of adults in the Rhondda are learning Welsh, and I was able to draw attention to that in the Assembly last week: a good opportunity to practise my own Welsh.

Leighton Andrews: Weinidog, a wnewch chi longyfarch grwpiau o oedolion yn y Rhondda sy’n dysgu Cymraeg, megis y grwpiau o Faerdy a Llwynypia?	Leighton Andrews: Minister, will you congratulate groups of adults in the Rhondda who learn Welsh, such as those groups from Maerdy and Llwynypia?
3.00 p.m.
A gytuna’r Gweinidog fod grwpiau fel y rhain yn rhoi cyfle pwysig i bobl sydd eisiau dysgu Cymraeg gyda’i gilydd, ac felly y dylem eu cefnogi?	Does the Minister agree that such groups give an important opportunity for those who wish to learn Welsh to get together, and that therefore we should support them?
Alun Pugh: Gwn fod llawer o bobl yn y Rhondda yn dysgu’r Gymraeg ar hyn o bryd, a hoffwn eu llongyfarch am eu gwaith.	Alun Pugh: I am aware that many people in the Rhondda are currently learning Welsh, and I congratulate them on their work.

Powerhouse

Recently we had the exhibition of plans for the future redevelopment of the Powerhouse building in Llwynypia. The study has been carried out for the Rhondda Civic Society, acting on behalf of the Building Preservation Trust being set up for the Powerhouse.

The weekend saw the exhibition of plans for the future redevelopment of the Powerhouse building in Llwynypia. The study has been carried out for the Rhondda Civic Society, acting on behalf of the Building Preservation Trust being set up for the Powerhouse. The work was carried out by Hyder Consulting. I was pleased I was able to persuade the Welsh Development Agency, in its last year of life, to fund the feasibility study. A final report will be drawn up based on public reaction to the plans, which include a number of different ideas. The Powerhouse of course played a central role in the Tonypandy Riots in 1910: my own view is that if we want to see something positive being done with the building, then that needs to happen by the time of the Centenary. We will have to raise a lot of money to get scheme off the ground if it proves feasible. The building is currently in the hands of the Crown Estate. The plans for it include ideas for leisure, office, community and heritage use. I’m still waiting to hear whether the Restoration programme will feature the Powerhouse building in the next series….

Royal Glamorgan Hospital

RCT Local Health Board and others are holding a consultation on the future of health services in RCT/Merthyr. Last week there were reports that staff at the hospital had been told that the facility might be downgraded. As I said in the Assembly last week I think it would be inconceivable that such a modern facility would be downgraded. But I do urge local people in Rhondda Cynon Taff and local health-workers to make their submissions to the Local Health Board's consultation on future services, which ends on 25th June.

It would obvously be bonkers to downgrade Wales's newest hospital, the Royal Glamorgan. We are fortunate in RCT to have modern hospital facilities, with a new community hospital now being built in the Rhondda at Llwynypia as well.

Local people and local health-workers have the opportunity to make their support for our local services crystal clear in the consultation now under way. I congratulate Amicus and ither unions on having responded so rapidly. As a District General Hospital, the Royal Glamorgan provides important facilities across the full range for my constituents, including A and E services. I do not believe for a moment we will lose them but it is importnat people make their views clear.

Clydach Vale

I was delighted to drop in to the Clydach Vale Community Centre earlier in the week where they were celebrating the fact that the Community Centre's ownership has now been clarified. I mentioned this in the Assembly on Wednesday:

Leighton Andrews: Do you agree that one of the important assets often required by communities which seek to fight social exclusion, is a proper base in the community for community activities to take place? Therefore, will you join me in congratulating the community in Clydach Vale for finally completing the purchase of its community centre? I know that you have been involved in that saga, which goes back some two and a half years. That has now been made a reality following the support that the community has enjoyed from the Communities First programme.

Edwina Hart: I concur with your comments and I certainly congratulate the residents of Clydach Vale. I am sure that the centre will be put to excellent use.

Celebrating People's History

We debated the role of libraries and museums yesterday and I took the opportunity to focus on the efforts of the many different individuals and organisations in the Rhondda who are celebrating Rhondda history.

Leighton Andrews: I will focus on the use of archives and the recording of history by real people in real communities. In the post-war period, a considerable amount was done by historians to explore the popular history of Wales, as it industrialised and as the struggles for democracy and the representation of ordinary working people developed.

In the 1970s and 1980s, historians such as Merfyn Jones, Hywel Francis, Dai Smith and Gwyn Alf Williams did much to popularise that history and to locate it at the centre of historical study in Wales. Alongside movements such as the History Workshop in the UK as a whole, we had organisations such as Llafur, the journal and the society for the study of Welsh labour history, which were supported in their beginnings by organisations such as the south Wales area of the National Union of Mineworkers. It led to developments such as the oral history recorded in South Wales Miners’ Library.

History remains central to Wales, to south Wales, and to the communities of the former coalfield in particular. You cannot tell the story of the making of Cardiff as the capital city, or of Cardiff bay, without reference to the history of the coalfields, and I hope that that will be reflected in the new Cardiff museum.

It is therefore hardly surprising that so many different historical activities are being undertaken, and so many different events being marked and explored. To give you some recent examples, in the Rhondda the Ark project has received £12,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a DVD about the mining history of the Rhondda. Porth County Community School and Hafod Primary School have received Heritage Lottery Fund and Cadw funding for their pit to port mosaic, which is now on display at Trehafod railway station, and their pit to port sculpture, which is about to tour Wales. In its final year, the Welsh Development Agency funded a feasibility study for community uses of the Powerhouse building in Llwynypia, which played a central role in the Tonypandy riots of 1910. Spectacle Theatre is looking at creating a community play about the 1910 riots for the forthcoming centenary. If we look at literature in its historical context, Rhondda authors such as Gwyn Thomas, Lewis Jones and Ron Berry are selling well in the first Library of Wales publications. Honno will shortly re-publish the autobiography of Rhondda Labour women’s pioneer, Elizabeth Andrews—no relation.

The BBC has recently re-shown, 40 years on, Vincent Kane’s film The Long Street on BBC2W, with a free showing in the Parc and Dare Theatre for Rhondda residents. The entertainer Mal Pope is writing a musical about the Rhondda boxer Tommy Farr. Last week, residents of Cwmparc marked the sixty-fifth anniversary of the bombing of their village during the second world war with a memorial designed by local children. The Cistercian Way marks the long-standing role in religious pilgrimage of St Mary’s Church, Penrhys.

There are dozens of individuals and many societies dedicated to the marking of Rhondda history, both communal and familial. In that context, I particularly wish to mention the late Haydn Shadbolt who did so much to ensure that the centenary of Rhondda transport was marked at the Rhondda heritage park two weeks ago. Haydn will be sadly missed by many of us. I also congratulate Rhondda Cynon Taf Country Borough Council on its online Rhondda heritage trail, which includes hundreds of digitised photographs, and which is supported by a grant from CyMAL.

In a globalised system, we see an upsurge of interest by people in their family and community histories. There has been a huge growth in family history, which has exploded since the arrival of the internet, not only in relation to public sites, such as that of the Public Record Office, but also private sites such as ancestry.co.uk and 1837online.com, using digitised materials from the census, and births, marriages and deaths.

Owen John Thomas: Do you agree that it would be a good idea if the census disks were put into local libraries, and not just at the large library in a town? It is not expensive to do, and they are materials from which people can learn a lot.

Leighton Andrews: I urge you to keep up with what is happening, Owen, because if you did you would understand that most of the records are now on the internet, and in local libraries such as mine in the Rhondda they are therefore available through the internet provision.

I regard these developments as positive and optimistic, and I also believe that in designing strategies for the archives of Wales, we should draw on the energy and interest of individuals and community organisations, which are at the forefront of recording and developing family history.

When the National Museums and Galleries of Wales held its consultation about its future vision, central among the subjects that people wanted to hear about were the history of working-class movements in Wales, and the lives of ordinary people, especially their domestic lives. My colleague Huw Lewis has rightly championed the cause of a people’s history museum in Wales. As he says in his pamphlet, it would give people a vital sense of continuity and of their roots, allowing them to grow together in this emerging Wales. Amen to that.

We should turn that vision of a people’s history museum into reality. We should explore how to create the museum from a number of different funding streams. We should seek to place Wales at the forefront of the digitisation industry, which is central to content development on the internet, starting with our own Welsh historic archives, which reside in so many record offices. We should work with the owners of photographic, audio and video archives, such as the BBC, ITV Wales and S4C, to get them to share their resources with us. We should look at the scope for partnership with potential commercial users of archive material, such as the family history websites that I mentioned, allowing them usage of archives under licence in return for digitisation funding. Above all, we should be working to ensure that this museum exists virtually as well as physically so that its contents, including our archives, can be accessed online as well as in person by the thousands out there who want them.

Chattering classes and Labour defeats

The Western Mail carried part of an interview with me at the weekend following up the local election results.

Well done, Ton

I joined 100 or so other Ton Pentre fans at Ely Rangers' ground in Wenvoe last night to watch the Bulldogs clinch safety with a 1-0 win.

I also handed the top goal-scorer award to Alun Jones, scorer of the winner against Ely Rangers.

Health Plans for SE Wales

I posted a few weeks ago on the consultation on hospital and health services in South East Wales. the full 113-page document is here and the consultation closes on 25th June. The summary document is here.

I will be making a submission myself. Anyone else who wants to do so should contact the

Regional Co-ordinator,
South East Wales Regional Plan
c/o Merthyr Tydfil Local Health Board
The Business Centre
Triangle Business Park
Merthyr Tydfil
CF48 4TQ
Email: regionalplan@merthyrtydfillhb.wales.nhs.uk

US Visitor

I welcomed New Hampshire State Senator Lou D'Allesandro to the Assembly on Sunday, and showed him around the new Assembly Building. Lou was impressed with our Assembly Building, its design and architecture. I think he was particularly interested in the use of Welsh materials, the environmentally-friendly energy system, and the modern technology we use in the Chamber.

Astroturf

I was pleased to be involved in launching two new astroturf facilities, costing over £400,000 each, at Tonypandy Community College and Treorchy Comprehensive School the other week. These will be open for community use as well as for the schools, and were supported by big lottery Fund money, as well as the school's own funds, and help from RCT Council.

The picture to the left is the Tonypandy launch.

And this is the Treorchy launch. The astroturf facility will make a huge difference in the ability of the schools to facilitate all-year round participation in sports activities.

At a time when people are complaining, understandably, about the loss of school playing fields, it's great to have these new modern facilities in the Rhondda.

Pit to Port

I joined pupils of Porth County Community School and Hafod Primary School to launch the new Pit to Port mosaic at Trehafod Station last week. The mosaic marks the history of the Rhondda and Cardiff through the journey of coal from pit to port, and has been supported by Arriva Trains and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

I also mentioned this in the National Assembly last week:

Leighton Andrews: I welcome your previous announcement on the funding for the feasibility of six-car coaches on the Treherbert line. However, will you welcome a subsidy from perhaps a surprising source, the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is providing support for the remarkable mosaic, entitled ‘From Pit to Port’ at Trehafod railway station, developed by pupils at Porth County Community School and Hafod Primary School? When you next visit events at the Heritage Park or the Heritage Park Hotel, I urge you to stop off at that station and see that mosaic for yourself.

Andrew Davies: I am more than happy to give that commitment. As a regular rail user, I look forward to going up to the Rhondda on the train next time and stopping at that station

Rail Safety

I have referred before to issues of transport safety and the new Assembly Investment in British Transport police for the Valley Lines. This came up in the Assembly this week.

Leighton Andrews: You will be aware that we have had specific issues and incidents at stations in my constituency, including at Treorchy. I welcome your investment, particularly in extending the numbers of community support officers with the British Transport Police and Arriva. That is an important development, and I was pleased to see two of them at Trehafod station on Friday. The investment in CCTV is also important. Can you guarantee that you intend to continue that investment in future? With the rise in passenger numbers on these trains, it will be a service that passengers will want to see for the future.

Andrew Davies: It is clearly a crucial factor, and it is not just about the frequency, reliability or comfortableness of trains; it is actually a matter of station and train safety and security, particularly for women. Recent surveys show that being on a station late at night is a frightening prospect for the overwhelming majority of women, and I am committed to anything that we can do to reduce that fear for their personal safety. However, it is not something that we can just do on our own, as the train operators also have a role to play, as do the British Transport Police and local authorities.

Cwmparc remembers

There is a service today to remember the bombing of Cwmparc in the Second World War. Unfortunately I will be in the Assembly's Audit Committee, but I am pleased that the BBC has noticed the event.

Cancer Care

Welsh Health Minister Dr Brian Gibbons visited Community Cancer Care Services in Tonypandy last week to learn at first hand about the services the organisation is providing to the local community.

Dr Gibbons is seen here listening to Andrew Penny of Community Cancer Services) pictured with myself and Andrew Morse of CISWO (Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation.

Community Cancer Services operate from their centre in Tonypandy, supporting people in Rhondda and Taff Ely.

Community Cancer Services has a drop-in centre, therapy rooms, conference facilities and office space, in environments that have been sympathetically refurbished to ensure a pleasant and welcoming atmosphere. Both projects offer aromatherapy, reflexology, reiki, Indian Head Massage and counselling, all provided free of charge by professional, fully accredited therapists and counsellors employed on a sessional basis.

Volunteers staff the centres as befrienders and receptionists and also provide free transport services to take people to and from appointments at their respective centres or hospital.

As a means of ensuring that all parts of the community can benefit from the services, Community Cancer Services is also establishing outreach facilities in the Community. Currently an outreach service takes place at Blaenrhondda Miners Welfare Hall every Thursday and at Sion chapel in Maerdy on Mondays.

I approached Brian about the service in the autumn and encouraged him to visit. He is always keen to see at first hand innovative ideas for patient support.

Assembly Diary

With all the bad headlines about the National Health Service deficits in England, it is nice to have some good news to report about the Health Service in Wales. At the end of March, there were no patients waiting more than 12 months for inpatient or day case treatment in Wales. It is the first time since records based on Welsh residents began that no-one has been waiting more than 12 months.

Of course, most Welsh patients are seen far more quickly than 12 months.

· All emergency admissions (between 60 and 70% of all those seen in Welsh hospitals) are treated immediately.

· For planned operations, over half of those on the in-patient list have been waiting for under three months. This suggests that half of Welsh patients, once an operation has been specified by the consultant, wait less than three months for hospital treatment.

· Eight out of ten patients are treated within six months, on that basis.

· Of the remaining two out of ten, all are treated within twelve months.

As well as bringing down long waits, the average length of time for all Welsh patients was reduced over the last twelve months. Average waiting times in England rose over the same period.

As far as outpatients are concerned, the target for the end of March was to have no-one waiting more than 12 months. A year before that, there were 13,845 patients in this position. On 31 March 2006, there were only 15! That’s a reduction of 99.9%. And none of the 15 are waiting for treatment at a Welsh NHS Trust. Of the 15 still waiting, 13 were from South East Wales, and were waiting for appointments in Bristol. None of the 13 were referrals from GPs.

Of course, as with in-patient treatment, most Welsh patients wait far less than 12 months for an out-patient appointment. On the basis set out earlier:

· 55% are seen within three months

· 80% are seen within six months

· 100% are seen within twelve months

I don’t want to get complacent, and we want to do even better. We have set challenging targets to bring down waiting times even further. But these figures show that overall, the NHS in Wales is going in the right direction.

General Strike

Today is the 80th anniversary of the start of the General Strike.

The Independent today has the following from 102 year-old Phillipa Jenkins of Dinas, who was 22 years old and working as a teacher at the time of the General Strike:

"My most vivid memories are of marches and open-air meetings. I remember being scared when the 'blacklegs' [strike-breakers]were set upon.

"I was teaching locally, so my salary was OK. I was one of the lucky ones. But my whole family was heavily connected with mining - my father and grandfather worked in Dinas pit . My grandfather was killed underground.People were very kind and rallied round. Shopkeepers worked hard to help people and there were soup kitchens set up. The local chapel helped too and people formed jazz bands and held carnivals to kept up morale.

"The miners were in such a sorry state: hungry and bedraggled - and uncaring mine owners living in posh houses set up a lot of resentment. I believe the General Strike taught me that there are harsh times in life and things can get out of control. I supported the strike. The coal owners wanted to cut the wages. A lot of people were left without jobs.

"People who had taken part in the strike were victimised and lived in poverty. Suicides were prevalent. Surrendering was very humiliating, but the people of Rhondda never forgot the struggle and the roots of socialism were born.

"People resented authority but respected fair play and wanted to change things for their children. Ultimately the trade union movement was stronger for it."